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WRITTEN FOR THE NATIONAL FAIR FOR THE SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' 
ORPHANS' HOME. 



BY MARY E. NEALY, 



Will you remember us l 
From the pines of Maine to the prairied west, 
From the golden shore to the Blue Ridge crest, 
With downcast eye and saddened brow, 
A sorrowful throng, we hail you now. 
For we have no parents to give us bread — 
No love for the heart, no home for the head. 

Yet Liberty made it thus — 

Will you remember us 1 

" Will you remember me ? 
My father fell at Fort Donelson ; 
His form was shattered by treason's gun, 
And he left my mother alone, alone, 
With a sorrow as deep as ever was known, 
And with little children to keep in bread: 
Ah, she worked her life out — she is dead. 

Yet 'twas all for Liberty — 

Will you remember me 1" 








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THE ORPHANS' APPEAL. 



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" Will you remember me ? 
At Pittsburg Landing my father fell, 
Amid carnage too bloody for tongue to tell ; 
Where unburied bodies lay around, 
And the hot sun putrefied each wound ; 
Where the river was covered with bloated men, 
And friend could not know his friend again. 

Yet they died for Liberty — 

AVill you remember me?" 

" Will you remember me ? 
I have heard my mother weep and say, 
How my father followed many a day 

T -- G ] Buel's aimless path, 

■ 

,im, „, ... , .. y were lead to Pe ; 

Where his brave feet halted, his heart grew still 

This was for Liberty — 

Will you remember me?" 

" Will you remember me ? 
In the dark Peninsular campaign, 
In malarious swamps, 'mid the drenching rain, 
My father toiled, grew sick, and died ; 
His children's slay, and our mother's pride. 
Then she wept and worked three weary years : 
And now — we can only give her tears. 

Yet 'twas for Liberty — 

Will you remember me '" 







THE ORPHANS' APPEAL. 

" Will you remember me ? 
On the deck of the brave old Cumberland 
My father fell, and his death was grand. 
He joined in the shout of ' One broadside more ; 
Let our death-chant be its thunder roar !' 
It was poured abroad with a mighty sound, 
Then the ship went under, and all were drowned ! 

Brave death for Liberty — 

Will you remember me V 

" Will you remember me ? 
At Gettysburg, in a dreadful charge, 
His brave feet touchii 

ound 
The, 

'My wife, my children,' he faintly sighed; 
' God bless and keep them !' and so he died. 

This was for Liberty — 

Will you remember mel" 

" And oh, remember me ! 
Alas and alas ! Alas and alas ! 
All dark, dark stories must mine surpass. 
The father as dear to us as life 
Fell not in the battle's glorious strife : 
He was murdered by inches — starved by degrees ! 
He suffered more deaths than all of these, 
For the dried skin grew to the marrowless bone, 
And it seemed that God had forgotten His own. 

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THE ORPHANS' APPEAL. 

And our gentle mother — her mind gave way. 
She is crazy ! For her we can only pray. 

Such woe for Liberty ! 

Will you remember me I" 

Oh, our land will not forget ! 
Our noble fathers are gone to God; 
Their blood enriches the traitor's sod. 
Yet we will be clad and sent to school, 
For our ladies have studied the Golden Rule ; 
And our rulers will never ungrateful be 
For the price tve paid for their liberty. 

God lives and sees us yet ; 

Our land will not forget ! 

Washington, D. C, May 13, 1866. 




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